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Cicely: The Story of a Doctor

With her open mind and freedom from prejudice, Dr. Cicely Williams was instrumental in saving the lives of huge numbers of children all over the world.

A specialist in maternal and child heath services working in a total of 58 different countries, Cicely educated mothers in hygiene and nutrition, befriended witch doctors when Western medicine was of no help and fought harmful customs and superstitions.

Through her hard work, Cicely became one of the most remarkable doctors of her time, her message increasingly preached and her methods practised in tropical countries everywhere.

In the mid-1930s, Cicely is transferred to Malaya to work in a children’s hospital in Singapore.

Then came the Second World War, along with the Japanese invasion.

And so ensued a nightmare period for the doctor, facing shelling and flying shrapnel, caring for hundreds of terrified, wounded babies and finally imprisonment for three years in the Changi gaol, where prisoners lived in constant fear of death and brutal torture.

In this fascinating biography of Dr. William’s life up to 1945, Ann Dally skillfully traces Cicely’s journey from the Gold Coast of Africa to her capture in Malaya and presents the reader with a life full of creative and absorbing work for humanity.

The result is a gripping and inspiring story of a brilliant doctor whose work has been of immense benefit to mankind…

Dr Ann Dally (1929-2007) was a pioneering English author and psychiatrist. She was born in London, the daughter of a distinguished lawyer and a half-American mother. She studied history, before qualifying in medicine and then in psychiatry, whilst going on to marry and have six children. Ann Dally wrote eleven books in all, including A-Z of Babies, The Intelligent Person’s Guide to Modern Medicine, A Child is Born, and The Morbid Streak.